Welcome to the next installment of Firefly Friday, where we examine a writing tip chestnut and marry it to my favorite TV show Firefly to illustrate the tip.
Setting ain’t just a pretty backdrop. If done right, it can add multiple layers of meaning to your novel or even become a “character” in its own right. Setting can illustrate many things, but today we’ll focus on character.
We’ve heard it a million times: make your prose do double-duty. Setting can be one way to accomplish this. This is one of the things I loved about Firefly and why it can be watched over and over because each time you can discover something new.
Instead of showing clips today, it’ll be a series of pictures. This set illustrates Kaylee, the ship’s engineer. What can you tell about her personality from just seeing her quarters?
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| Inara leaving Kaylee’s room. No one else has their door decorated | Kaylee in a hammock she’s strung up in the engine room, which she’s made into a second haven for herself. Anyone recognize the shout-out to Star Wars on the shelf behind her? |
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| In her bunk. This setting also illustrated something new as the dress hanging there is a new addition to the room and shows how much that experience affected her (Shindig). | Contrast Kaylee’s bunk to the ship’s captain, Mal. |
Now take a look at the Dining Room. It’s never said or pointed out but can you guess who painted the little flower vines up the walls and tried to make the room a little more homey?
The other character’s bunks/personal space also reflects their individual personalities, but I thought I’d focus today on just Kaylee.
Fan of the show? What other parts of the setting helped to illustrate character? What ways have you used setting to illustrate character in your WIP?
Related articles
- Firefly Friday – Weaving in World-building Without Infodumping, a writing tip (angelaquarles.com)
- Firefly Friday – Flip that Cliché, a writing tip (angelaquarles.com)
- Firefly Friday – Dialogue – How Scary is Pain? It’s all in the delivery (angelaquarles.com)
- Writing Lessons from the TV show Firefly (angelaquarles.com)
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